IICCMER > Research > Criminal complaints > IICCMER announced the results of the latest special investigations and the names of two other persons suspected of committing crimes and abuses during the communist period

IICCMER announced the results of the latest special investigations and the names of two other persons suspected of committing crimes and abuses during the communist period

30.06.2016

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Bucharest, June 30, 2016 – The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) organized on Thursday, June 30, 2016, a press conference to announce the results of the latest special investigation and the status of the criminal complaints filed by the Institute.

On this occasion an appeal was made regarding the assay of DNA samples from the direct relatives of the victims exhumed in the diggings campaign undertaken by IICCMER in Periprava in 2015-2016.

On this occasion, under the presumption of innocence, two new names from the list of persons suspected of committing political crimes during the communist regimes were revealed:

Petrescu Marian, former commander of several labour camps and penitentiaries during the communist regime, responsible for enforcing a regime leading to the death of 104 prisoners;

Boştină Gheorghe, former political deputy, responsible for the death of 100 prisoners;

IICCMER filed criminal complaints to their name.

At the press conference, the IICCMER representatives presented the current status of the criminal complaints it filed so far.

For further information, please contact us at e-mail office@iiccmer.ro or by calling +40 21 316 7565.

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About the IICCMER investigations

In April 2013, the IICCMRE announced that it had identified numerous facts with possible consequences of criminal acts committed by former employees of the General Directorate of penitentiaries during the exercise of his functions in the period 1950-1964.

On July 30, 2013, IICCMRE asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to initiate criminal proceedings against former commander of Râmnicu Sărat prison for first degree murder. On 3 September 2013, the High Court of Cassation and Justice announces the initiation of the criminal proceedings against former commander of Râmnicu Sărat prison for the crime of genocide, having subjected the community of political prisoners to an extermination regime, which for some of them resulted in death.

On the 30th of July 2013, IICCMER asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to initiate the criminal proceedings against the former commander of the Râmnicu Sărat prison for committing first degree murder. Vişinescu was sent to court on June 18, 2014, for crimes against humanity and sentenced on July 24, 2015 by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 20 years in prison. In the indictment the prosecutors showed that, during 1956-1963, Alexandru Vişinescu, as commander of the Râmnicu Sărat Penitentiary, committed systematic actions and inactions which resulted in the persecution of the political prisoners incarcerated at Râmnicu Sărat, who were deprived of their fundamental human rights or experienced a severe limitation of these rights. The decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal was maintained through the definitive ruling of the High Court of Cassation and Justice of February 10, 2016.

On September 18th, 2013, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile asked the General Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice to initiate the criminal proceedings against former commander of the Periprava labor camp, colonel (r) Ioan Ficior (85 years old), for committing the crime of genocide. On that same day, the Public Ministry announced that it had registered the denunciation made by the Institute. IICCMER informed that its investigations proved that Ioan Ficior enforced and maintained an extermination regime for the political prisoners detained at Periprava, while he was occupying leading positions within this labor camp during 1958-1963.

On January 16, 2014, IICCMER announced the result of the investigation in the case of lt.-maj. (r) Iuliu Sebestyen, deceased in October 2013 and suspected of having committed crimes and abuses during January 1954 – December 1955 at the Gherla Penitentiary (06060 Formation).

On February 11, 2014, IICCMER asked the Prosecutor’s office to start the criminal proceedings against cpt. (r) Florian Cormoş, former commander of the Cernavodă labor colony, for crimes against humanity.

On July 8, 2014, IICCMER asked the Prosecutor’s office to start the criminal proceedings against Constantin Istrate, former commander deputy for security and regime at the Oneşti labor colony and commander deputy for security and regime/ commander of the Gherla Penitentiary respectively, for crimes against humanity.

On February 11, 2015, IICCMER asked the Prosecutor’s office to start the criminal proceedings against Tilici Neculai, former prison commander, Fizula Refic, political officer, and Sârbu Teodor, Securitate sub officer.

On February 10, 2016, Alexandru ‪‎Vişinescu, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity through the definitive ruling of the High Court of Cassation and Justice.

On March 30, 2016, Ioan Ficior was sentenced by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity through a decision which is not yet final.

According to its legal framework, the Institute is authorized to carry out scientific investigations regarding the crimes, abuses and human rights infringement during the whole communist regime and to alert the competent authorities.